One of the more challenging capacity constraints affecting BNSF's Northern Corridor is the 4,769-foot long bridge across Lake Pend Oreille outside Sandpoint, Idaho, not far from where BNSF and Montana Rail Link (MRL) converge. BNSF is now looking into the bold concept of building a second bridge, nearly a mile long, adjacent to the existing one.

The bridge becomes a frequent choke point for BNSFand MRL because not only is it single-tracked, the surrounding area also has a 35 mph speed limit stretching several miles. During periods of heavy traffic, trains from all directions stack up as they wait their turn to cross the lake."We are in the preliminary engineering design phase," BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas tells Railway Age. "We plan to construct a bridge 4800 feet or 3/4–mile long at some point in the future. The design would include concrete spans and steel pilings."Melonas adds that BNSF must obtain permits to build the bridge. That process could prove difficult, considering the opposition some Sandpoint residents, and others in the region, have aimed against BNSF's growing oil and coal business. Disturbance of the lakebed and shoreline will likely attract oversight as well.The current bridge over Lake Pend Oreille, completed in 1905 with steel decking on concrete piers, replaced a long wooden trestle which Northern Pacific Railroad had built as part of its original main line construction in the 1880s. In 2008, BNSF installed new steel piers and decking at the bridge's west end, and more recently performed similar work on the bridge's east end.In constructing a second bridge, BNSF's Melonas says, "Preliminary specs would include 50-foot track centers between the current bridge and the adjacent planned new structure. We would hope to complete it by 2018, however, that is speculative."

After more than two years of public review, analysis, and permit filings, delays, and extensions, the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) announced on Monday that it had rejected a crucial permit needed for the construction of the Coyote Island coal export terminal proposed for the Port of Morrow.Ambre Energy, an Australia-based energy company, had planned to ship approximately 8.8 million tons of coal annually from the port located in Boardman, about 90 minutes east of Hood River. The coal would arrive via rail from the Powder Basin region in Montana and Wyoming and be transferred to barges in Boardman that would then ship the coal down the Columbia, bound for Asian markets.On Monday, however, DSL reported it had denied a removal-fill permit for the terminal, which Ambre Energy needed to construct a dock for the project, where a conveyor belt would take coal from rail cars and load it onto barges waiting on the Columbia River. DSL regulates filling and removing material from “waters of the state,” which include wetlands, rivers and streams, and the Coyote Island Terminal involves 572 cubic yards of permanent fill in the form of pilings in the Columbia River on submerged land owned by the Port of Morrow.In a press release announcing the decision, DSL stated the permit was “not consistent with the protection, conservation and best use of the state’s water resources, and that the applicant did not provide sufficient analysis of alternatives that would avoid construction of a new dock and impacts on tribal fisheries.”The project had gone through an exhaustive process for the removal-fill permit that first began in February 2012 and consisted of three public review periods and eight decision deadline extensions, according to DSL.“As many people know, this permit application has taken hundreds of staff hours to review,” said Mary Abrams, DSL director. “From reading more than 20,000 public comments to carefully analyzing technical documents and plans, this application has been scrutinized for months. We believe our decision is the right one, considering our regulatory parameters laid out in Oregon law, and the wealth of information we have received from the applicant and the public.”The decision was hailed by environmental and tribal groups that opposed the project over concerns it would adversely affect air and water quality as well as negatively impact tribal fishing sites.Carlos Smith, chairman of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and a member of the Warm Springs Tribal Council, called the permit denial “the beginning of the end for this toxic threat,” referring to the coal terminal.“This decision is one that we can all celebrate,” he stated in a press release. “It reaffirms the tribal treaty right to fish, is in the best interest of the Columbia Basin’s salmon populations, and our communities.”Michael Lang, conservation director for Friends of the Columbia River Gorge, also lauded DSL’s decision.“Friends of the Columbia Gorge applauds the DSL for protecting river recreation, fisheries, treaty rights and the climate by denying this application,” he said in a written statement. “The Columbia River Gorge is a national scenic treasure and should not be used as the nation’s coal chute to Asia. This decision is a huge victory for Gorge residents and their elected officials who have opposed this project and called for a coal-free future for the Columbia River.”Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, believed the permit denial would make the coal terminal difficult to build.“We think it’s a huge blow to the project and a huge victory for the community that we won’t see coal barged down the Columbia,” he said Monday afternoon.Riverkeeper was one of multiple environmental groups that submitted comments to DSL and pushed the state to reject the terminal. The group also rallied the public to submit comments and protest the project. He characterized one such protest in Hood River in March 2013 that was attended by well over 100 people as a “big turning event,” symbolically, in the fight.Despite the jubilance — Riverkeeper will be having a celebration of the decision at The Pint Shack on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. — VandenHeuvel said the decision wasn’t unexpected.“I wasn’t surprised by the decision, I think it was an appropriate decision,” he noted. “I think if you had asked me that two years ago, I think it may have been surprising then.”The permit denial, however, can be appealed, which would include a hearing before a state administrative law judge. Liz Fuller, a spokesperson for Ambre Energy told The Oregonian on Monday that the decision was a “political” one and that the company was “evaluating our next steps and considering the full range of legal and permitting options.”

Oregon regulators plan to decide Monday whether to deny a permit for a coal export dock in Boardman to preserve tribal fishing on the Columbia River.The Morrow Pacific coal export project needs a permit from the Oregon Department of State Lands to build a dock for coal barges. The project would ship nearly 9 million tons of coal from Wyoming and Montana to Asia. It would transfer coal shipments from trains to barges in Boardman, and load the coal onto ships at a dock in Clatskanie, Oregon.Members of the Yakama and Umatilla tribes have told the state they fish at the proposed dock site, and they’ve asked the state to deny the permit to ensure their treaty fishing rights are upheld.Morrow Pacific project backer Ambre Energy has disputed tribal claimsand argued that the dock won’t interfere with tribal fisheries.Among other criteria, state rules say the permit can be issued as long as it “would not unreasonably interfere with the paramount policy of this state to preserve the use of its waters for navigation, fishing and public recreation.”Julie Curtis, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of State Lands, said her agency is weighing information from the company and the tribes, as well as more than 20,000 public comments.“When tribes bring an issue like this to us, we certainly take it very seriously and look at it,” she said. “We’ve had to look at many, many details, so it’s certainly been very time consuming.”Members of the Yakima Nation protested the project by fishing at the proposed dock site in May. A week later, the state delayed the decision from a May 31 deadline set by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber to Aug 18.The state asked the tribes for additional information and gave Ambre Energy time to respond to the information submitted by the tribes.In letters submitted since May, several Columbia River tribes have weighed in against the project, including Nez Perce and Warm Springs, as well as the Yakama and Umatilla.Paul Lumley, executive director for a coalition of all four tribes called the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, told the state in a letter dated June 27 that the proposed dock and related coal export facilities “would destroy treaty fishing sites.” Furthermore, he argued, the barge traffic generated by the project would impact tribal fishers elsewhere on the river.“Current levels of barging activity on the Columbia River already conflict with tribal fishery operations,” Lumley wrote. “Increased barging will exacerbate those conflicts, including lost fishing gear and reduced tribal catch. The personal safety of tribal fishers will be compromised.”In defense of his project, Clark Moseley, president and CEO of the Morrow Pacific Project, sent a12-page letter to the state arguing that the proposed dock “will occupy a miniscule footprint,” and “the location of the dock is considered poor fish habitat and is not used by local fishers, tribal, sport, or otherwise.”In his letter, Moeseley argued that the department of state lands doesn’t have jurisdiction over the land in question because it’s owned by the Port of Morrow, and he presented several legal arguments supporting that position.“Under its own rules, DSL is not authorized to analyze fishing on lands not owned by the state,” he wrote.He also pointed to other cases where he said the state approved permits for in-water activity despite impacts to fishing.